“In a vibrant democracy like India, we need to have courage to respect dissent and provide space to different points of view,” said Sayeed.

“The spate in unpleasant incidents such as this is most disturbing,” he added.

National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said on his Twitter handle: “The attack on Engineer Rashid is unacceptable and condemned in the strongest possible terms. The climate of intolerance and violence is very worrying.”

State legislators Hakim Yaseen, Nizamuddin Bhat and Usman Majeed also issued statements here condemning the attack and calling it an act of intolerance and against the spirit of democracy.

Rashid was attacked just outside the Press Club soon after he had spoken to the media about a fire bomb attack in Udhampur that killed a truck cleaner from the Kashmir Valley.